"What really amazes me is how resistant people are to using them where they can really help."

IMHO, the problem is this: We don't teach basic Engineering in schools. Not science - Engineering.

How many non-techno folks really understand what a kilowatt-hour is, how much they pay for one, or how many they use in a day or a year? Or what a lumen is, let alone things like how to measure the efficiency of various technologies?

I'm not saying people are dumb; they're not. But having a basic understanding of technology has long been undervalued in the USA. So many people are naturally resistant to change, since they really don't understand what's going on.

This sort of thing crops up in all sorts of ways.

I found it amusing when the marketing folks resurrected the 100+ year old term "wireless". I found it a lot less amusing when I realized how many people don't know that "wireless" in that context simply means "radio".

--

Back when cell phones were a new thing, I was sitting in a plane waiting to pull away from the gate when a woman (I think she was a lawyer) across the aisle pulled out a cell phone and began a call, ignoring the announcement to turn off all radios and electronic devices.

As we were taxiing out, she ended one call and was about to begin another, so I asked her to turn off the cellphone.

"Why should I do that?" she asked. "I need to make a call"

"Your cell phone could disrupt the plane's navigation and communications systems" I replied. "There was an announcement about turning off all radios - you must have missed it."

"I heard it" she said. "But this isn't a radio, it's a telephone!"

The flight attendant finally got her to turn it off.

The woman wasn't dumb or hostile; she really didn't know a cellphone uses radio.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2139206

for one type. There are plenty more. Worth shopping around; the same bulb is almost twice as much at Wal-Mart as at Ace.

(insert standard no-connection-to-product-or-vendor disclaimer HERE)

Google is your friend.